Sunday May 07, 2017

Whenever I see someone actually wearing a smartwatch, it’s by the fruit company, so I guess I can believe this report. Apple Watch sales have jumped 31% year-over-year, which sounds pretty good for a category of tech gadget that most know full well they don’t need. Fitbit, however, seems to be doing poorly, shipping 36% less units and facing stiff competition from the increasing number of sports-oriented smartwatch options.

Apple might not be selling as many iPhones as it would like, but it sounds like its Watches have been doing quite well. According to Strategy Analytics, it shipped 3.5 million wearables in the first quarter of 2017, 59 percent higher than the 2.2 million devices it did in the same period last year. Cupertino captured 16 percent of the global marketshare and stole the wearables crown from Fitbit, which had a much less stellar quarter. Fitbit only shipped 2.9 million devices in Q1, 36 percent less than the 4.5 million units it moved in the first quarter of 2016. Even Xiaomi sold more devices, putting the beleaguered wearables-maker in third place.